A glance at the week that was...
We know now
It was Ireland's coldest December in 28 years
Matthew and Lucy were the most popular baby namesin the Irish Timesbirth announcements last year
Two-thirds of Irish people say they're as happy as everdespite the recession, according to a National Consumer Agency survey
The Numbers
828The height in metres of the world's tallest building, Burj Dubai, which opened this week
12,775:Number of women Warren Beatty has slept with, according to a rough guess by his biographer
4The number of Irish businesses that went bust every day of 2009
Big Freeze
It is still very, very cold, and this week Dublin and much of Leinster came to a standstill thanks to the snow.
It may not have snowed as much as did it in the UK (where almost half a metre fell) but it was enough to shut down bus services, the airport and some sections of the Luas, and to cause road chaos. Temperatures were as low as -16 degrees in some parts of the country as the cold grip continued – and it looks set to for some time yet, so when you leave the house don’t forget your ice pick.
Little Impact
Another week, another mobile that’s supposed to take on the iPhone and change the world. This week, Google launched its Nexus One (below) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The response? Lukewarm. Meanwhile, Microsoft showed off a tablet computer that’s supposed to pre-empt Apple’s forthcoming game-changer. Except they didn’t turn it on, so it was a damp squib too. Instead, a flying drone that can be controlled by the iPhone captured the imagination. That’s next year’s Christmas present sorted.
"I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't write, I can't read, I can't talk to people. The worst thing is I feel it will never end."
Author Marian Keyeson her battle with depression